“Discover America’s Most Bizarre Town Names: What Secrets Do They Hide?”
Colon, Michigan
Colon, Michigan, located in St. Joseph County, is home to approximately 1,227 people (as of the 2000 census). That’s a pretty small village to have the enormous nickname “Magic Capital of the World.” A number of famous magicians, including Harry Blackstone Sr., lived here and there are several magic attractions and supply companies based in Colon.
But how did the town get its unfortunate-sounding name of Colon? Well, it was named after the shape of nearby Palmer Lake. There’s also a Long Lake there. We have to wonder how “Colon” won over “Long.”
Climax, Georgia
Climax, Georgia, is located in Decatur County. The town, incorporated in 1905, has a population of roughly 280 citizens. Climax officials claim that the city was so named because it’s at the highest point of the railway between the Chattahoochee River and Savannah, Georgia.
This explanation is certainly plausible but doesn’t stop some of us from snickering at it. Bonus: Climax holds an annual Swine Time Festival complete with chitterling eating, pig racing, and hog calling competitions. Double bonus: there are cities in Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and New York that are also called Climax. The more, the merrier.
Gnaw Bone, Indiana
In his book titled Hometown Revelations, author Mark Usler shares this background information about Gnaw Bone, Indiana, located in Brown County. “It’s named after a French town by the name of Narbonne, but when the English settlers came in to the town, slang and their dialects changed the word to Gnaw Bone.”
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